My plans to dominate the universe through online sketch comedy progress steadily onward. At times I feel like my overall strategy is about as advanced as that of the Underpants Gnomes. (Step 1. Collect underpants. Step 2. ??? Step 3. Profit!) But then I calmly remind myself that I’ve done this whole sketch comedy thing before, and building a collection of produced material is as goos a way to get my writing out there as any.

I had more than a hundred applicants respond to one ad or the other, and it has consumed a whole lot of my time to sort through them and then plan lunch or coffee with people, and then finally select the crew that I want to come audition. Yep, all that before they even come to an audition; I’m being super particular about personalities and want a diverse but collaborative mix of people. Hopefully the results will justify the four weeks of meeting people. There can be no doubt that I messed up somewhere along the line and didn’t select someone who will prove to be the next Jim Carey, but all I can do is follow my instincts.

Anyway, I finally sent out invitations, and we’ll be having auditions next Sunday. I’m planning a three-hour session to really get to see everyone shine. I’ve invited a director and producer I want to work with, who can hopefully help me make final decisions, plus 14 writers and actors. I’m guessing I’m looking for a final group of 8-10. Now I just need to plan a bunch of writing and improv exercises, and buy a whole lot of refreshments.

Time to go to work. Work all night.
Search for underpants, hey.
We won’t stop till we have underpants.
Yum tum yummy tum tay!

Dear DVD Manufacturer and Distributor:

I enjoy watching movies on my computer. This morning, for example, I thought I’d have School of Rock playing in a small corner window while I work on a client’s web page. This sort of thing is why people have DVD players on their computer.

Here’s what I don’t enjoy: being greeted each and every time I insert a disc with a prompt to install some proprietary player. I already have the player that came with Windows, plus the other Microsoft one that Windows makes you install if you ever try to watch anything on the web, plus the crappy one that came with my computer, plus the OTHER crappy player that came with my computer… all of which seem to vie for control of my media files. The last thing I want is another stupid player clogging up my system, especially one that doesn’t seem to have a full-screen mode available, and that places an obnoxious studio logo in the corner the entire time I watch a movie.

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I was once involved in writing and performing a sketch about a pair of nerds stuck at a trekkie convention. They got locked out of a room, and in order to open the door they decided to use the wave motion gun. The characters in the sketch repeated their choice several times. The Wave Motion Gun. The wave motion gun? The WAAAVE MOTION GUN!!!

Every other night or so that we performed the show, we could hear someone in the back of the room laugh hysterically at this reference. If you were a fan of the 1970s anime import Star Blazers, you’re probably laughing right now, too. But the rest of you are about ready to stop reading this post.  This kind of joke is an example of what Jane Espenson calls a “two-percenter.” The idea is that the joke references something that only about two percent of the audience is likely to recognize. The joy of creating such a joke is that those few people who understand the joke think it’s reeeeeal hilarious.

The problem with this kind of writing is that 98% of one’s audience ISN’T laughing.

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When we were building our sketch comedy troupe back in Seattle, it took a while for everything to ramp up. Getting to the point of having a functional core group… well, let’s just say that not everyone was a good fit right from the beginning.

Now that I’m starting an online troupe down here in L.A., I’m being rigorous about selecting the people getting involved. Folks who respond to my ad (assuming they say something interesting about themselves) get a long e-mail from me explaining my vision for the group. I ask them to fill out a questionnaire and from there I interview the most interesting folks.  Only if we hit it off in the interview do I then invite them to even audition for the group.  It’s a lot of hoops to ask people to go through for a project that doesn’t pay, but I want this effort to get off the ground much faster than the last one did, and I’m sure that building the right team is key.

So this weekend I was sorting through my printouts of the various writers and actors who are in consideration. On each I had a sticky note listing their statistics: were they a writer or/and actor, part of town where they live, day job, taste in comedy. Once I had it spread out and labeled like that, I could suddenly see a pattern.

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